THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SMARTPHONE USAGE AND WORKING MEMORY PERFORMANCE AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
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UNIVERSITI MALAYSIA SARAWAK
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This research paper analyses the connection between smartphone usage and working memory performance among undergraduate students. As many lectures are incorporating technology-based learning, it is imperative to determine whether the overuse of smartphones poses a risk to the degradation of working memory performance among undergraduate students. To investigate this, the research included 34 participants from the Universiti of Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) who were required to complete a pair of working memory performance tests, which were correlated with their average weekly smartphone screen time. The results show an inverse link between smartphone usage and working memory performance, indicating that participants with longer smartphone screen time were likely to have poorer working memory performances. Therefore, the findings imply that smartphone users, particularly undergraduate students, should take into consideration how long they use their smartphones to preserve their working memory performance for academic purposes. In addition, universities may implement programs to raise awareness of the dangers of smartphone overuse, as well as policy changes in restricting smartphone practices during lectures.